If you buy something through our links, ToolGuyd might earn an affiliate commission.

Over at Festool Products (a Tool Nut storefront), they have several new Limited Edition Festool tools – a 5-in-1 painter’s multi-tool, a blue Systainer 2 that’s $20 cheaper than their typical off-white model, and a serrated knife with cutting board.

Okay, so this 5-in-1 painter’s tool – that looks like something I could probably use. But do I need it? Well… Hold on… Okay, ordered one.

Advertisement

Features include:

Putty knife

Paint scrapper

Paint can opener

Nail puller

Paint roller cleaner

Price: $10

Yep – $10 for a hand tool that’s made by Festool, and one that’s described as a “Limited Edition” that will be sold in limited quantities. Crazy – right!?

I’ll have to check. But, if they are compatible, the Makita box would always have to go on the bottom. The T-Loc Systainers’ bases are compatible with the tops of older style Systainer-compatible boxes, but the top is only compatible with other T-Loc Systainers.

Correct, as Stuart said, the “Classic” style Systainer(s) like Makita’s would need to go under the T-LOC style Systainer(s). If you look at the photo, you’l l see the four latching locations for your Makita Systainer.

I can’t believe you can buy anything Festool for less than $100! This is a lost opportunity to highlight their design though. I have many of these, the ones that I USE though are not like this, at a minimum there is needed a striking surface at the back of the handle. See link. https://www.hardwareworld.com/p5gdq4l/9-In-1-Painters-Tool

Festool dealers regularly have odd badged tools made by companies which will put your company name on pens, etc and the quality is what you would expect. The longest running one over here is a 1 metre fold out rule and there seems to be a competition to see whose loses its logo fastest. Festool dealers also had a bit holder in the correct colours the problem was that it did not take their Centronec bits.

I much prefer that blue and green livery to Festool’s standard one and would happily buy one at the GBP equivalent price. With regard to the price on eBay that is sadly typical of eBay these days having said that when Metabo introduced the Metaloc II which is completely compatible with Systainer boxes one of the internet dealers started selling the previous version for triple the price.

Given the amount of people I saw at the trade show last week wearing the very expensive fleeces and jackets Festool sell there are people out there who will pay silly money for something with a corporate logo on it, my position is simple if you want me to advertise your company then I expect clothing items to be free except if they are from a clothing company e.g. Snickers.

With regards to the carving knife and board see comment on painters tool.

Since we’re talking about German tools here, I’m adding a note that you can score some very good deals on limited quantities of some clearance Wiha and Wera tools from Newark (an electronics distributor). I have already spent too much.

Note that shipping isn’t free, and you’ll have to pay tax, but for example, I picked up a Wera ratchet hammer for $34.

The tools were made in their normal location – these aren’t holiday specials, this is Newark clearing stuff out (they’re owned by a British company, Premier Farnell, which is now owned by the American electronics mega distributor Avnet).

So all the Wera items I bought were made in the Czech Republic, and the Wiha 71090 bit set ($3 on clearance) was made in Germany.

BTW, it looks like my second, more detailed, link still doesn’t work, so it’s best to start from the main clearance page if interested (and since I don’t have any Wera items, I was interested in $13 for 6 Kraftform screw drivers, $30 for the 38 piece Tool Check bit set, etc).

Newark’s site can be frustrated. I lose “saved pages” every now and then because I go to an open tab and find that it timed me out, asking me to login with no “back button” option or other way to get back to what I had been looking at.

Actually, some Wiha items are produced in SE Asia locations such as Vietnam. And according to some on Amazon, the insulated adjustable Wiha pliers I thought about are made in SE Asia, with the ESD coating added in Germany. However, I have been very happy with my Wiha screwdrivers.

Could not reply to your latest post directly, with regard to electronics retailers selling Wera products pretty much the only place other than special order from a Wera dealer (which is a long and expensive process) to obtain Wera stainless steel bits and other more unusual parts of their product range in the UK is via RS components a now online only retailer who also charge reasonable prices unlike the 3rd party retailers of such items on Amazon.

I have asked Wera why and they have said they are constrained by the types of products ordered by their retailers and that it is a historical fluke that electronic retailers were always happy to order a very broad range albeit in relatively small quantities.

I may need to clarify the stainless steel bits I am referring to are for use on stainless steel fixings avoiding potential corrosion issues as there are bits made from stainless steel used for other purposes.

Part of my day job involves specifying electronic components (all the way from PC, PLCs,and motors down to cables and connectors) and helping out purchasing when availability is an issue, so I am quite familiar with DIgikey, Mouser, Newark, and Allied. The “biggies” (Arrow, Avnet) are typically a hassle for an individual or small company to deal with (like some of the industrial supply companies Stuart has mentioned).

Anyway, one of the services that these distributors offer is selling at quantity 1, instead of buy the lot (e.g. 50 Phoenix terminal blocks) or reel (e.g. 5000 crimp pins), so what you say makes sense.

Some additional notes: I’ve never seen a Digikey or Mouser clearance sale, but Newark has them frequently, and I’ve scorned some good prices (e.g. 50% off) before on electronic stuff I wanted.

RS owns Allied Electronics in the US, but the component range is a bit different; Allied is more oriented towards industrial & automation (they stock a lot of PLCs, pneumatic valves & cylinders, motors & such), while RS is trying to tap into the Maker movement with their DesignSpark site — and offers quite a bit of free software with minimal strings attached, for mechanical design (which I’ve used a bit for designing stuff for 3D printing), PCB design, electrical schematics, and more.

Yep. Newark’s deep discounts section can be a treasure trove. I ordered what will probably be a lifetime’s supply of solid metal potentiometer and indicator knobs. The prices held for a year, but now they’re back to full price. *Shrug*

I also ordered a couple of button keypad terminals, although I don’t have the perfect project for them yet.

Yeah, sometimes I order stuff just to get a feel for it, for my personal projects but sometimes I end up specifying it for work, too.

This time, I added a large size NKK switch because I’ve been wanting to try them out for years, and at 75% off it’s hard to resist (I did manage to resist the $40 dev kit for NKK”s intelligent switches (which have a 96×48 OLED) – I don’t think I’d ever find time to use those, but they’re really cool).

We use panel mount 22mm IDEC switches at work – reasonably priced and VERY nice. The NKK switch is about 15mm and PCB mount, but I’m curious to see how it compares.

I bought a small tile capacitive switch for that reason, but haven’t made good use of it yet.

I bought a couple of lighted NKK switches, but it’s a hassle. They’re pricey, and they’re not very popular. I placed my first order with Arrow, and one of the SKUs lacked installation hardware, and Arrow customer service was a little time-consuming and disappointing to work with.

I’m guilty of ordering some other switches from Newark’s figurative bargain bin as well, such as Cherry rockers.

I have an almost unnatural interest in switches and user interface devices. Although probably not suitable for what you do, Mouser introduced me to the E-Switch PVT4 (link, which is very low profile, with LED ring and teeny tiny travel.

The problem with capacitive buttons is that they don’t have good feedback. You can get them cheap off AliExpress, etc, and a number of companies have tried to make industrial ones, but the industrial models don’t seem to have caught on. I’ve played with advanced haptic piezo feedback, and it still isn’t close to a mechanical switch.

That said, I do have a Texzec Active Metal button (uses ultrasonic standing waves to detect contact) and someday would like to try a Schurter PSE piezo switch. This style of switch is good for ESD , washdown (for medical) or anti-vandal (metal with no moving parts).

I haven’t tried NKK before, and they can be a little pricey, but large, high quality buttons aren’t cheap (we pay ~$40 for the IDEC LW7Ls)

I do like Cherry’s keyboard switches, so my main computer keyboards have Cherry Blue (favorite), Brown, and Green key switches (I also have a Unicomp buckling spring one).\

Although we don’t use anti-vandal switches at work, I also find them fascinating. Other companies make them include Schurter, EAO, Bulgin, and APEM. So far I have picked up a Schurter mechanical (on Newark clearance) and a cheap chinese mechanical one from Seeedstudio, and someday would like to get a Schurter MSM CS switch with ceramic actuator: https://www.schurter.com/en/datasheet/MSM_CS_16

I’ve bought a couple Festool tools and I haven’t been impressed considering what they cost (luckily by my discount shopping ability I didn’t pay full price). I figured I’d give them the benefit of the doubt but AvE has been correct so far (festool or otherwise festering pile of….).